Operation: Jumpgate
by Spazman
Summary: Far away from Sonic's home-world, Mobius, another star-faring race battles endlessly against the hellish hordes of an enemy known as the Sey'Tan. This story, later down the line, will take place on Mobius as well.
1. Prologue: Dimensional Fatigue

Welcome to a world far beyond the dimension of Mobius, where the widely-known hero, Sonic the Hedgehog, battles to deliver retribution to a psychotic doctor in order to reclaim his own planet's freedom from its adversaries.

Space travel is unheard of at this point, and far beyond their realm lies another race who bear an appearance close to the Mobians. They are a primarily reptilian race, but these bodies they assume come from a unique ability they can harness.

Tendrils come forth from their bodies form likenesses of an erect, foot-walking humanoid / Mobian. They are just a bit taller than your average Mobian. They have the same complexion, nearly the same anatomy work (in their Mobian form, of course.) Though, this race takes upon a light to dark-greenish appearance, along with an oddly-colored golden-yellow eye color.

Like every kind of people, they also have their weaknesses and strengths. Strengths far outnumber the weaknesses, such as being able to use their tendril-like form to shift into any appearance they desire, learn any language. They possess a short-range sense of telepathy, which is, of course, used for only short-range communication. Tendrils used in battle situations can be barbed at their tips, which makes for a highly superior slashing and slicing tool. Finally, they have a strong heat-sensing ability, which they can use to track prey and / or enemies.

Weaknesses for this people are rather devastating, though. For these people, the Anthromorphs, looking at the sun can and most likely will kill them. With the heat-sense ability they possess, looking at anything with such high heat intensity will cause the 'Morph to literally melt from the inside out. In battle, if tendrils are used, they can be easily cut off, taking up to weeks to fully repair themselves.

With this small bit of information, I shall proceed to open the story to the Anthromorph's most famous conflict, along with their most daring plight, "Operation: Jumpgate"...

Prologue: "Dimensional Fatigue" -

20 years ago - The "Home-Planet" lies silently in the recesses of cold space, surrounded by a small cluster of metal debris and meteoric rock. Lights seem to flash and pulsate from a nearby service station close to the planet, and reflects the lights of an en-route scavenger ship, which now hovers only a matter of a few feet above it. Inside this scavenger ship rest a few passengers, all of which are Anthromorph race, consisting of a pilot, communications officer, and a type of military unit known as a 'Scavenger'.

The prime objective of this small crew was to locate and retrieve wreckage or salvageable materials from decommissioned space stations or resource-rich meteors and asteroids. The job of the Scavenger was to use a device similar to a freighter's PDLS (Point-Defense Laser System) to break down these materials into component parts, and store them in the hollow hull of the Scavenger vessel. This same ship would perform the same duty on each job they encounter. The job they were about to undertake, however, was far more extraordinary than the crew had anticipated...

"Scavenger Kari'Straan, you're go for departure." Says a military officer aboard the vessel, right before opening up a series of airlocks. A final lock bursts open, and a shapeless being emerges from the airlock, dressed in an exoskeleton-like airtight suit, carrying a laser device which bears only partial resemblance to what you'd find in a particular 80s comedy ghost-flick. Sparks emerged from its tip, which clearly showed that it was functional. With a swift jump from a platform, the 'Morph is sent out into space, using back-attached thruster units to propel him towards the old service station.

"Officer Su'Balyan, please tell me why the Hell we are this far out away form the planet...?" Speaks the Scavenger through a telepathic receiver. "I've got a feeling that the corps just need a good reason to get rid of us."

"Kari'Straan, just watch your ass and get inside the station. At least they'd sent us out here for a GOOD reason this time." Speaks Su'Baylan back through the receiver. As he does so, he keeps a watchful eye on Kari'Straan's vital systems, watching for the slightest malfunction.

"What reason might that be, Baylan?" Speaks Kari'Straan, while on his approach. After hovering mere inches above the station's hull, he activates a magnetic device strapped to his boots, and clings onto the floating metal surface. He then begins making passes with a bright light, searching for a visible way inside the station.

"Okay, 'Straan, since you seem to lack a good sense of short-term memory, I'll tell you again..." He pulls up his communicator and finds a set briefing. "... Corps had a space station out here supplying trade and passenger ships with fuel and needed goods. As of a few hours ago, all contact was lost with this place. Right in the middle of a trading operation, too. Damn communicators just went up and blacked out. They came back on for a few seconds, before finally turning to static again. We can only assume..."

"... Get to the point, Baylan!" Interrupted Kari'Straan.

"Don't fucking interrupt me, Straan! The point is that the rest of the teams were too lazy as to get off their over-indulged asses and come out here themselves. They sent us to find out why comm-signals were lost, and if contact was made with some unknown force." Su'Baylan spoke quickly through the receiver. If he had teeth to grit, he'd probably be doing that now. He waited for a response, as nothing came through the receivers for several seconds.

"You listening to me, Kari'Straan?! Answer me, Damn it!" He roared.

Meanwhile, on the surface of the station, Kari'Strann froze with fear at what lay before him. "Su'Baylan... They met one Hell of a contact..." He spoke, shaking. His light mounted to his suit shone down into a gaping hole. A Large gaping hole. Not the kind you'd expect from a mere asteroid bludgeoning. This was cleanly cut, perfectly circular, and left him with a view of deep space through it. Red lights flashed from within, along with the regular spark of a destroyed electrical cable. Clearly, this was no accident.

With Kari'Straan still on the metal surface, a violent shake rattles both the deck and the Scavenger ship, leaving 'Straan falling on his face.

"Su'Baylan, does that damn pilot know how to drive a damn 'Cruiser?" He spoke, with both anger and fear frozen in his mind.

"We didn't fire a single thruster..." Speaks Baylan. "...Straan, you'd better come in for a fill-up. Your vital components are low."

"Impossible. I've only been out for a slight time, what's going on?" Says Kari'Straan, right before releasing his magnetic grip on the metal hull.

"Must be a leak somewhere in your suit. come on back before you run..." The line goes silent for a minute. Kari'Straan takes it as him releasing off the receiver early.  
"Okay then. Hoist me on up." He says, with no reply. "...Fine then, I'll just haul my own ass back to the ship." He flicks on his thrusters again, propelling his way back to the ship, when all of a sudden, communications come back on.  
"..raan! Haul ass back here! We just got a MAJOR disturbance out here, along with another blackout. Straan?! Can you hear me?!" Cries a panicked Su'Baylan.

"Yeow! Chill out on the damn receiver, I'm coming back. What's up?" He speaks.

Just after transmitting his message, a dark shadow emerges over the crew, completely blocking out the sunlight, except for a faint dark-redness. Kari'Straan looks up in time to see the last passing of a blood-red ship lined with what seemed to be bones for framework. The crew members' heat-detection abilities go berserk, and they slowly burn. Communications are flat-lined, except for the banshee-like screams that come from their communicators. As Kari'Straan looks up, he has time for a final speaking of last rites before a light encases all of them, and what seems to be a superheated projectile comes to silence them all.

The scavenger ship is left in ruin, with not a trace of a body nor soul left behind as the blood-bone-and-gore ship disappears once again in a flash of reddish light.

And once again, all of space remains quiet...


	2. Chapter One: Fire in the Sky

Chapter 1 : Fire in the Sky

Location: Deep Space, over planet XII of the Rigel star-system, 20 years after First Hostile Contact.

Another asteroid comes into view and fades away as a lone Anthromorph soldier sits by a rather large window in a flagship's Rec Room. Inside is mind beams another all-too-familiar news broadcast, speaking word about recent war events. It fills him, repeating the same words of hours before.

"...the board will come to a final decision regarding his sentence tonight. In recent RAAC (Rigel Aerospace Assault Corps) news, another contingent of freighters and passenger transports are reported missing after a repeated bombardment by what Commoner and Military alike now refer to as 'the Sey'Tan', as a nod to their somewhat Hellish design. Officials report that after a recent military attack, these vessels disappeared into what they identified as a reddish portal, with scientists calling the phenomena 'dimensional fatigue'..."

The 'Morph intakes a shot of a whiskey-like liquid, and turns from the window to the bar where he obtained his drink and sets the shotglass on the counter, wiping his Core Unit's (Or in other words, an artificial body) face with one of his tendrils, then returning to gaze at space, the ship now turning to present a view of Planet XII, his home. He can't help but emit a sigh of sadness as he watches his home from above.

The Rec Room seems a lot emptier now than it used to be. When he first arrived on the Flagship "Amiral Gemisi", all was bustling with stories of war-veterans who fought in the early Sey'Tan battles. Some lived themselves to tell of these stories, some are just second-hand accounts. Most of the time, these secondhand accounts live up to the 'exaggeration and stretched truth' quota. Some of these include the popular 'I was kidnapped and fought out of there with my bare tentacles' stories, while others go far beyond their laughability expectancy.

He missed the company of even these miserable flight-training dropouts. Every once in a blue moon, he'd get a little more company, maybe a wingman or two. Most of the time though, it was either a guy telling him about 'The end of the world', emptiness, or the quiet sound of the telepathic vision receiver blaring war news into his head, which it was doing now. He ha a strong urge to turn it off, when an overhead broadcast speaker does its familiar chime, and speaks:

"Lieutenant Ak'Tarma, please report to the briefing quarters on the first floor. General Komutan requires your attention. Lieutenant Ak'Tarma, please report to the briefing quarters on the first floor. General Komutan requires your attention. .. Thank You."

The message plays its chime once again, then cuts off. Wearily, he gets up from his bar stool and walks over to the lift entrance, pressing a flashing red button on its side to open it, then walking in. A sign says: 'Please turn off all communication receivers of any kind before using this lift' and he adheres, but not before a final message comes from the news receiver:

"...As what seems to be a project almost unknown to commoners at this time, RAAC Board members have leaked the news of a supposed long-term project in the form of planet evacuation and recolonzing, in order to begin new life on other worlds away from the Sey'Tan invaders. If what this report claims is true, we are all left with many questions, most of which are: Who will go? Who will get left behind? And most importantly, WHO is making these rash decisions?"

Ak'Tarma shuts off the receiver, having heard enough. He turns to his side and finds that he's not alone in this lift. His Core Unit seems to bear the rankings of a communications officer. He speaks to Ak'Tarma through a telepathic transmitter.

"I heard the news too. So the crackpot RAAC have finally flew over the edge this time, haven't they?" He says.

Ak'Tarma stays silent for a moment, somewhat trying to ignore the person. Another damned war-pessimist coming to confront him.

"Not much of a talker, huh?" He says, then sticks out a tendril to him. "Communications officer Konusma Aygiti, at yer service..." He looks at Ak'Tarma's badges and nametag. "Lieutenant Ak'Tarma. Call me Aygiti, if you want. Or, don't talk at all. All fine with me. I'll prolly be your only friend aboard this ship for a while, if you ask me. I know the dirt on this ship, its crew, war news, et cedera, et cedera. I collect it, and store it in my Core Unit's facial cheeks." He points to his artificial face. Must be a new model, even Ak'Tarma had not acquired one as of yet.

He finally speaks up. "That would explain your breath. I don't need your pessimism nor your friendship. Since you're annoying enough as it is, and I have to work with you, I must tolerate." He fumes, clearly irritated.

"Okay, mister. Jus' know whenever you need someone to come watch your back, or you need the scoop on something around here, just track down my ass. In the meantime, this is where I get off." He replies, just before stepping off the lift on the comm-deck.

Clearly, that updated 'Morph unit was a bit of a hothead. Like all the rest of the damned new fly-crew. Aygiti, huh. Sounds like the name of one of the new crew from the planet surface anyway, from a crew replacement log from only days before. A fresh guy, not used to the real fear and pain of war. He'll soon learn.

A few minutes later, the sound of a 'ding!' emits from the lift's speaker system, and Ak'Tarma steps off, walking over to the briefing room door and passing trough an Identification Checkpoint on his way. Red lights flash around him, scanning for foreign objects, weapons, the like. His visual receivers go slightly blind for a few minutes, but return to normal as soon as he enters the Briefing room, which is lit by the lights of computers and the 'war-table' in the center of the room. A familiar face turns to greet Ak'Tarma as he makes his entrance, known as General Komutan. His look is solid, showing neither a smile nor frown. Simply a neutral look.

"Lieutenant Ak'Tarma, we have news. Some bad, some good." He speaks.

"I'll bite. What's the bad news, sir?" Says Ak'Tarma.

"Things don't look good in our favor. I'm sure you've already heard... the news."


End file.
